The notion that we're headed towards some kind of populational apocalypse---that there exists a line which, once crossed, will lead inexorably to mass Read MoreRegisterLogin

The notion that we're headed towards some kind of populational apocalypse---that there exists a line which, once crossed, will lead inexorably to mass starvation, and a whole planet like Penn Station at rush hour---has been used to stoke fear and sell books for more than a century. The discourse surrounding these concerns can be so toxic, that just wading into it can feel pointless, or futile, or worse. But it is, nonetheless, a question worth gaining clarity on. And so for this week's Giz Asks we reached out to a number of experts---in sustainability, environmental studies, economics, geography, and more---to find out, once and for all, whether the Earth is overpopulated. Jesse H. Ausubel Director, Program for the Human Environment, The Rockefeller University With most animal populations, the niches that encase the populations are of constant size. Animal societies growing in a given niche have dynamics neatly fitted by equations with a constant limit or ceiling. In